Present government serious about fight against drugs, advisor to Arunachal CM Dr. Tangor Tapak

A CORRESPONDENT

PASIGHAT: The advisor to Chief Minister Dr. Tangor Tapak, while attending the consultative meeting on the anti-drugs campaign, said that the present state government is very keen and serious about the fight against drugs in the state. He said the consultative meeting on the campaign has been initiated before launching an effective campaign against drugs at the village levels in the district because East Siang district is the fourth most drug-affected district in the state.

During open house discussions, innovative and cost-free ideas for drug awareness solutions came up. Some of these outstanding ideas on drug awareness campaigns were: the introduction of a morning topic on drugs and yoga as a mandatory curriculum in schools; the formation of anti-drug squads at the district level, block level, and village level; and the inclusion of drug awareness speeches in any government-sponsored developmental programmes or gatherings.

Another strong proposal was to link drug abuse to disqualifying a proposed beneficiary of any government scheme. That is, introduce a "No-Drugs-Abuse-in-the-Family Certificate as one of the criteria to qualify as a government scheme beneficiary. This can positively impact society, which benefits from a large number of government schemes.

However, prominent NGOs like WASE and ABK lamented that due to the absence of a Special NDPS Court, drug-related cases drag on for years. Therefore, they demanded the early setting up of special NDPS courts.

The meeting was attended by officials from every government department, student leaders, various NGOs, PRI leaders, and others.